The Mark of an Alpha
Chapter 62

An older blonde-haired and blue-eyed man walks into the room, he reminds me of someone but I not sure who yet. His eyes are on Derek and he does not appear to be happy.

“Who released their battle roar?” The man snaps at Derek and he flinches back.

Who is he? He has the alpha whimpering back like a puppy being scowled at.

“No.” Derek shakes head trying to make it clearer that it was not him.

"The whole castle is going insane thinking that the castle is under attack. The people are not sure what the hell is going on."

Battle roar! Was that you?

I think so.

“It was me.” I stand knowing full well that I need to stand up to my actions.

The man’s eyes flicker to me and then turn away quickly. He stops and then turns to me in surprise as his eyes look at me up and down.

“Arabella?” His breath hitches and then takes a couple of steps towards me.

That's my mother.

I step away from him and turn my face a bit away from him as he tries to get a better look at me.

“No, I’m Melany Blake.” His eyes widen a bit and then they harden.

“Melany Blake. You’re the spitting image of your mother everything except for your eyes those are Julian's.” His hand comes up to caress my face and all I want to do is smack it away like a fly coming at me.

“Mathew?” Something about his presence makes me warm up to him quickly. He nods and his eyes soften before me.

“You remind me so much of her.” Surprising anger swells in the pit of my stomach but it is not directed at the man before me.

“You,” I point to Ivan and Derek puts himself between his father and me, “You told me that the old alpha was dead.”

There is a pulsating pain at the side of my neck I would not be surprised if I had a popped out vein there.

“Well...” Ivan fights for the right words as his hands go into the air trying to come up with something.

“Dead,” Mathew turns to Ivan and I can sense it as well as everyone in the room his alpha aura is still with him. “I told you to look after the pack while I got myself together and you tell everyone that I am dead.”

His eyes darken and I know that his animal side is not too far away. He is angry and he has a right to be his own family took the crown from him.

Hunter senses that he is losing himself to his animal self and pulls me away. He wants as much space between us to keep me safe.

“You were gone for twenty years! You were as good as dead for all I knew.” Ivan snaps at him and Derek keeps his father behind him protecting him from whatever might head their way. "You never came around. You disconnected with everyone. No one knew where you were or if you were even going to come back and take back the crown."

“So who the hell is the alpha?” Hunter asks surprising me. He has not spoken for a while and now he wants answers just like I do.

“There is a new alpha?” Mathew's eyes are still dark when they turn to look at Hunter.

Hold up there cowboy! The alpha is not Hunter.

“Your ásshole of a nephew,” I retort and look over at Derek who looks back at me gesturing with his face for me to shut up.

“Derek.” His eyes fall on his nephew and he puffs his chest out and tries to make himself tougher than he is.

“You are willing to challenge me for the alpha spot,” Mathew takes a couple of steps towards Derek.

“It’s not as hard to beat him as you may think. I kicked his áss and Hunter was about to do it as well a few minutes before being brought here.” I beam at Mathew and if things went down I feel as if I would side with Mathew and help him out.

“The only reason that he was able to pass as the alpha is because he carries royalty blood in his veins but to be a true alpha of the alphas he needs more than that. Do you bow down or do you want me to challenge you?”

Mathew wants his spot back as head honcho and I cannot blame him he is the real deal and there is no way that he is backing away from him.

Derek looks back at his father as Ivan looks over at Mathew.

“For God’s sake Derek,” I spit his name out, “make your own choice and stop looking at your father for all the answers.”

Mathew looks over at me and there is a glint of a smile in his eyes. He needs to act like his own person and not his father’s god damn puppet.

Derek glares at me and I growl at him. I beat him once I can do it again. He stares at me and I hold his gaze and if there ever was a moment that I wish I could get a glimpse into his mind it would be right now.

Derek is on the verge of losing everything and if he is expecting to get sympathy from anyone he better not be looking in my direction.

“What did you do?” Derek turns to look at his father and his father’s face is full of amusement.

“Dear brother of mine. I always hoped that you would be found dead so that way I could kill the next in line to be alpha. Dethroning them would give me the power that I need to become stronger and I would be the ruler of all the Alphas. I can settle by killing them and getting their power.”

He is going to kill Derek!

Ivan’s eyes darken and he starts to tremble. Derek is staring at his father with utter shock and he is in the line of fire.

“Damn it Derek move,” I push myself forward as I shove Hunter to the side and run at him. My body collides with his knocking him to the ground.

The snarls roar behind me and I know that Hunter and Mathew have shifted as well. Ivan’s hairy hand grabs me by my throat and without much effort lifts me off the ground.

He cuts off my airway as I pound at his face. Black spots blur the edge of my vision as I start to feel weak.

“You have caused me more trouble than I thought you would.” There are three Ivan's spinning around me as my head grows heavy.

The beast before me is something straight out of my nightmares.

Ivan is not able to fully shift he is stuck between a human and wolf form. His fingers are long enough to wrap around my throat. His thumb presses against my cheek forcing me to look in Hunter’s direction.

Hunter is snarling and growling baring his teeth at Ivan but I know that he will not attack as long as Ivan has me. I plead to Hunter to stay out of harm's way with my eyes.

“You’ve been a thorn at my side since the day you were born.”

He lifts me higher as if I were a prize to show off to everyone. My hands are wrapped around his wrist trying to relieve the pressure on my throat. My hands barely scratch at him when they drop limply to my side.

“Funny I had no idea you even existed.” I push through as my wolf fights to reconnect with my mind. I look down at him as my shoes skim the floor trying to replace something to stand on.

There is a sharp pain at the side of my neck and a tingling feeling running down from where the pain is coming from. My eyes widen when I finally see what he is going to do but I am too late his claws dig deeper into my neck and my vision blurs. The boom invades my ears as I fight with my consciousness, I cannot blackout.

Through the pain, my eyes still seek Hunter.

Is he okay? Where is he?

Ivan’s grip on me loosens and that is when the falling sensation kicks in. My body drops to the ground hard and my head hits the concrete floor first sending me in the darkness.

Melany don’t go!